Group items tagged

The Cumbria Cabinet's complete reversal of any semblance of democracy is worthy of the most agile circus acrobat. The nuclear acrobatics continue in the news reports justifying the decision to bury high level nuclear waste by saying : "This is the option being taken in the US at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, where highly radioactive fuel will go underground. The Yucca Mountain project involved URS Washington, a key partner in Sellafield's parent body organisation NMP". Sounds wonderfully cosy and reasurring doesn't it? But the truth is somewhat different with lawsuits against URS Washington and deep disposal of high level nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain now off the agenda because of contamination risks to the regions water, soil and air.

Almost 700m tonnes of CO2 would be released into the Earth's atmosphere by even the smallest nuclear conflict, according to a US study that compares the environmental costs of developing various power sources Just when you might have thought it was ethically sound to unleash a nuclear attack on a nearby city, along comes a pesky scientist and points out that atomic warfare is bad for the climate. According to a new paper in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, even a very limited nuclear exchange, using just a thousandth of the weaponry of a full-scale nuclear war, would cause up to 690m tonnes of CO2 to enter the atmosphere - more than UK's annual total.

Former world leaders and arms-control negotiators joined entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and the queen of Jordan Tuesday to launch a project aimed at eliminating the world's nuclear weapons over the next 25 years. The group wants to reach the impossible-sounding goal by reviving nuclear disarmament efforts that have lagged since the end of the Cold War. It is proposing deep cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, a worldwide verification and enforcement system and phased reduction leading to elimination of all stockpiles.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave a speech today in London outlining a new '6 step programme' for creating a world free of nuclear weapons. His speech was largely a response to pressure created by recent high-profile campaigns emerging from the US, which have been calling for step by step progress towards the ultimate abolition of the world's nuclear arsenals. Getting rid of the bomb? Sounds like radical stuff, but what's particularly radical is who is behind these campaigns. Not your 'usual suspect' peaceniks, but rather some of the biggest names in international diplomacy, who have come together to demand action on global security because they see the spread of nuclear weapons as the biggest threat to our immediate future.

When we talk of garbage not being disposed off well, we do not think about garbage other than the regular kitchen waste and plastic. One major type of waste that we hardly talk about is radioactive waste, produced at cancer hospitals. While our kitchen waste may not be so harmful, radioactive waste can be hazardous. On a casual inquiry, I found out that the cancer hospitals in Bengaluru were apparently disposing residual radioactive waste into the public sewerage and garbage. This sounds alarming, but this is what they are supposed when the radioactive material (used for treatment) is 'fully used'. On matters of radioactive waste disposal, cancer hospitals in India are governed by guidelines issued by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). According to radiotherapy physicists (doctors), once the radioactive material is fully used (or spent) and decayed, it does not remain harmful.

Goliad County will get some financial help to test groundwater before uranium exploration advances. Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance announced Tuesday that it granted $5,000 to the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District for testing 11 domestic and livestock wells in areas of proposed uranium exploration or mining.

After years of false starts and legal fights, state environmental officials are moving forward with plans designed to stem pollution from the Millstone Nuclear Power Complex. The plan is supposed to cut the amount of heated water that the plant pumps into Long Island Sound each day - a plan that has the backing of a cross section of environmentalists. But not all. One longtime foe of Millstone is charging that the state Department of Environmental Protection has failed to stop the facility from polluting and is asking the state's courts to remove the agency from the case.

Will this barren mountain rising up to 4,950 feet from the Mojave desert look roughly the same in the year 1,002,008? That's a million years into the future. The question may sound bizarre but its answer is key to the future of a decades-old, controversial project to store America's nuclear waste in the belly of Yucca Mountain, on the edge of a nuclear test site and 95 miles from Las Vegas. The narrow road from there winds through a desolate landscape of sparse vegetation - creosote scrub, cactus and gnarled Joshua trees.

SC-- Half a century ago, the Savannah River Site was a top spot for our government to meet nuclear needs during the Cold War. There were secret projects…and buzz words that surrounded the site: 'hydrogen bomb' and 'nuclear reactor.' But half a century later, SRS's mission has shifted. They now clean up harmful materials. And SRS researchers are looking to make this a sound of the past. Dr. Theodore Motyka, Hydrogen Program Manager: "Eventually we'll all run on hydrogen in my opinion. It's a matter of when."

BAGHDAD: Long after the shooting and bombing stops, Iraqis will still be dying from the war. Destroyed factories have become untended hazardous waste sites, leaking poison into the water and the soil. Forests in the north and palm groves in the south have been obliterated to remove the enemy's hiding places. Rivers are salted, water is contaminated with sewage, and land is strewn with mines, unexploded bombs, chemical waste, rubble and trash. "When we talk about it, people may think we are overreacting. But in fact the environmental catastrophe that we inherited in Iraq is even worse than it sounds," Iraqi Environment Minister Nermeen Othman said in an interview. "War destroys countries' environments, not just their people. War and its effects have led to changes in the social, economic and environmental fabri c," she said. "It will take centuries to restore the natural environment of Iraq.

Nuclear power is a risky source of energy that comes with many hidden costs, said an environmental analyst and long-time leader in the U.S. environmental movement Tuesday. Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said the "flawed economics" of nuclear power are placing unforeseen burdens on taxpayers: the costs related to the construction of nuclear plants, the disposal of nuclear waste, the decommissioning of old plants, and security in case of an accident all contribute to the price the world pays for nuclear power. Wind energy is a more economically sound option, said Brown.

As our presidential campaign season draws towards a close and the attacks / counter-attacks reach a fever pitch, it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction. So many contradictory proposals, so many disparate numbers - I wouldn't be surprised if someone says the sky is bright pink before we're through. The debate about energy policy is a case in point: the proposals so far have ranged from sound (invest in multiple forms of renewable energy) to questionable (clean coal, 45 new nuclear power plants) to the insultingly cynical and foolish (Drill Baby Drill!).

Ray Benson concerned on how reactors would effect Guadalupe River Grammy Award winner Ray Benson from Austin will sing in radio spots questioning the use of water by a proposed nuclear plant. Benson, known as the guitarist and singer for Asleep at the Wheel, joined the Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance in urging residents to question how two nuclear reactors would affect the future of the Guadalupe River Basin, an Alliance news release stated.

Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. announced increased profits and revenues for the third quarter. Net income jumped to $10.9 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with $200,000 in the same period last year. Revenues were $419 million, up 7.7 percent from $389 million from the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2007. "In summary, our core business remains strong in spite of the effects of the current turmoil in the financial markets," CEO R Steve Creamer said. "Our capital structure is sound, our debt levels are manageable and we have over $100 million of cash and undrawn lending commitments from our banks." Among the highlights of Tuesday's earnings announcement:

The nuclear energy industry is fretting over the next president's stand on the proposed federal dump for high level nuclear wastes at Yucca Mountain. "I'm a little worried about his position on nuclear power," American Electric Power Co. CEO Michael Morris told Bloomberg News. Obama has described the Yucca project as outmoded and called for "exploring new alternatives for safe, long-term solutions based on sound science." Obama could withdraw the license application for the project that is now pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

City refuses to air meeting on Channel 15, but did air pro-nuke speakers A group of residents concerned about nuclear power coming to Victoria doesn't think the city is giving it a "fair shake." Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance asked to air a recording of the "Nuclear 101" forum tonight on the city's Channel 15, but city leaders declined, director John Figer said.

State officials and environmental groups have reached an agreement with the Millstone nuclear power complex to expedite plans aimed at reducing the facility's effect on Long Island Sound. Virginia-based Dominion, Millstone's owner, agreed Monday to immediately begin studying technologies and measures that would better protect fish and other sea creatures from Millstone's water-based system for cooling its reactors.

Like so many proponents of nuclear, J Slater (Letters, September 10) misses a huge point. Nuclear generation might "only" produce enough waste to fill three swimming pools - which sounds very cosy - but how many swimming pools need to last 20000 years? Our local pool in Stirling barely lasted 40! To take the spurious analogy further, I would be much less concerned about a leak from my local swimming pool than I would be from my local nuclear power station or nuclear waste dump. If we don't find an alternative to nuclear, the volume will escalate immensely and dwarf this figure.

Friday's announcement that French state owned utility Electricite de France (EDF) had pulled out of a takeover bid for British Energy has left Gordon Brown's nuclear aspirations in disarray. It was widely expected that, following months of negotiation, a deal would have been struck and a statement read to the sound of popping corks, but instead a rather sombre delivery was given to a stunned room.

FDA's latest ruling that spinach and iceberg lettuce can be irradiated weighs food safety against concerns about vitamin loss and cleaner farming practices. For many consumers, the prospect of eating produce zapped with ionizing radiation doesn't sound all that appetizing, conjuring up images of mushy fruits and wilted leaves -- not to mention fears over safety. Last month's ruling by the Food and Drug Administration that food manufacturers can now irradiate fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to kill bacteria came with reassurances that the process wouldn't result in food any less appealing or healthful than non-irradiated varieties.